Leiden University Student Repository

Taner, Sabiha 2017

Within the walls. The effects of institutional spaces on the experience of Banksy's artworks

Master thesis | Arts and Culture (MA)

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The last couple of years it has been evident that street art has become more widely accepted in the art world. This thesis seeks to explain how this acceptance of street art, leading to the...Show moreThe last couple of years it has been evident that street art has become more widely accepted in the art world. This thesis seeks to explain how this acceptance of street art, leading to the institutionalization of the art movement, has affected the experience of street art. The difference between street art in the outdoor context and the indoor context is discussed through this new development. Since the 80s the institutionalization has started with the professionalization of graffiti and eventually street art. Galleries initiated legal commissions which stimulated the artists to create artworks indoors but also reconsidered the definition of street art. It was only after the so-called Banksy Effect however, that the acceptance of street art in the art world was brought up. Since the 2000s this acceptance has changed the notion of street art with fundamental developments as a result. More institutions are concerned with street art and initiate street art exhibitions, some examples mentioned are Art in the Streets in the Museum of Contemporary Art Los Angeles, Street Art in the Tate Modern, City Lights in the Millennium Iconoclast Museum of Art and the not yet opened Urban Nation Museum for Urban Contemporary Art. The effects of the recontextualization within institutional spaces for the experience of street art is discussed through these examples. It is because of Banksy's popularity that these exhibitions were presented in the past, and his popularity today is still able to initiate exhibitions on his artworks. In 2016-2017 two exhibitions on Banksy were presented during the same time in the Dutch capital Amsterdam. Banksy: Laugh Now was exhibited by the Modern Contemporary Museum Amsterdam, an initiative by the two gallery owners Logchies and presented the most famous artworks made by Banksy. The travelling collection The Art of Banksy was exhibited in the Beurs van Berlage and was initiated and curated by his former agent Steve Lazarides. These two exhibitions and competitors each presented Banksy's artworks but had fundamental differences in their presentations. The experience of the artworks is what made the distinction between these two exhibitions. While Banksy: Laugh Now was more concerned with the amount of artworks and the presentation of the artworks within their institution, the exhibition The Art of Banksy focused on the experience of the recipients. Through these examples of street art exhibitions it has become clear that the institutionalization of street art has fundamental effects on the experience of street art. Because of this a reconsideration of the institution, in this case the museum space, is necessary to fully appreciate and exhibit street art works within the context of an institution without neglecting the experience of street art.Show less